Our day to day life full of haste, stress, races and stress leads us to neglect something as basic as physical exercise. Among the different types of training that we can practice, there is one that will also help us improve our physical appearance. In this article we are going to discuss how to do the inner abdominal exercises correctly.
We are becoming more and more sedentary beings and this brings us a series of health problems that are linked to our way of life. We spend most of our time sitting and almost always with inappropriate postures since we are in front of a computer screen or a mobile phone.
When we go to move we rarely do it on foot or by bicycle, as we did years ago. Now we have the car to go almost anywhere, no matter how close it is. We forget things as essential and necessary as walking or the simple act of climbing a ladder. You may be interested in this article about the benefits of sport for our health.
In this article we are going to focus on a series of exercises for a very important part of our body, and sometimes forgotten, our abdomen. These exercises, which we are going to see next, will help us to strengthen the abdominal muscles. And in this way, we favor not only the aesthetic part, but we will also make our body much more energetic and free us from some diseases.
The abdominal muscles form the central part of our body and therefore should be an important point to take into account when exercising daily. In this way we will improve our body posture and as a consequence we will reduce the chances of suffering injuries, pain or discomfort.
Also if we strengthen our abdomen we will be reducing fat and increasing our muscle tone. But at the same time, we help our digestive and intestinal organs to stay in place and avoid constipation problems, for example.
Instructions
We are going to see a series of general instructions when doing any type of abdominal exercise.
- We must always support ourselves on a flat surface.
- We need to avoid exercises that force us to arch our backs.
- The exercises must be performed calmly, without haste and thinking about the movement we are doing. This can be a little harder to do but this way we make sure to prevent a strain or contracture. Here is an article on how to cure a muscle spasm.
- We must make sure that we support the lumbar spine well. Because otherwise, we run the risk of arching it and overloading its muscles.
- Calmness and perseverance are the best allies when performing any type of exercise. It is convenient to start with few repetitions and go up as our body gets used to the exercise. In addition, the number of weekly sessions should also start for about three or four days and increase as we feel better physically. This time must be controlled at least once a month, and thus we can increase the intensity of our exercises in a constant and intelligent way.
Now we move on to some basic instructions for doing inner abdominal exercises:
- If we have weak muscles in the abdominal area, we do not guarantee enough tension to maintain good body posture. Therefore, we favor the growth of a small belly even if we have a low body fat percentage. Therefore, to have a slim waist and a marked abdomen, we must also take care of the development of the internal abdominal muscles.
- Most abdominal exercises consist of a variation of trunk crunches and raises. But very few assure us of the use of any internal, oblique or transverse muscles.
- For the training of the inner abdominal muscles we must also include static exercises.
- Therefore, the most effective exercise to work these internal muscles is the abdominal vacuum, which is also known as abdominal vacuum or stomach vacuum in English.
- For this type of exercise, the most effective are the so-called planks.
- We start from the following starting position: we lie face down with our legs stretched out and slightly apart. We raise the body, fixing the pelvis and supporting its weight on the forearms, elbows and the tips of the feet. We maintain this position and at the same time maintain tension in the abdominal muscles, the internal muscles of the torso and the buttocks.
- We keep the neck and spine in the same line. Our breathing should be normal, not agitated. The repetitions should last from 10 to 30 seconds. Once done, we pause for about 30 or 40 seconds before doing a new repetition. As we said at the beginning, the secret is to do the exercises in a relaxed way, without the stress of many repetitions. Over time, we will increase the number and duration of them.
- As we said before, a type of static exercises is the so-called abdominal vacuum. This exercise should be done about 3 hours after eating. We start from an initial standing position, straight and with good posture. We exhale all the air contained in our lungs by inserting the stomach. Then we make tension in our abdominal muscles and we pay close attention to this tension, that is, we concentrate on this part of our body and on the tension that we are exerting. We endure without air and with a tight stomach for about 10 or 15 seconds. Once this time has passed, we inhale air slowly while relaxing our muscles. We do three or four reps. something very advisable are to do this exercise several times a day and we will notice the changes in a few weeks.
What do you need
Actually, when it comes to doing abdominal exercises, we think that we need a series of expensive instruments or gadgets to be able to carry out this type of exercise in a correct way. Nothing could be further from the truth.
To be able to do an abdominal exercise routine and not die trying, we only need a mat or cork mat. We can find them in the market for very little money and this will help us not to notice the coldness of the ground or its hardness.
These mats will offer us three advantages: safety, ecology and comfort. Safety because, being non-slip, they will protect us from hitting the ground that can injure us. They are ecological because they are not harmful to the environment and can be easily recycled and sometimes they are even previously recycled products. And they are comfortable to do this type of exercises for the abdomen because their surface will protect us and cushion the blows that we may suffer.
Tips
Finally, let’s see some tips for doing inner abdominal exercises:
- The best routine to work the inner abdominal muscles should include static exercises such as those mentioned above: abdominal planks and abdominal vacuum exercises. These exercises should be practiced regularly.
- These exercise routines should be repeated several times throughout the day, so that in a few weeks we will see the results.
- But we must bear in mind that no abdominal exercise is going to help us lose the belly. It is a mistake to think that the excess belly is going to be lost only by doing abdominal exercises. Here I leave you an article on some tips to lose your belly.
- In order to lose it and consequently lose our excess weight, it is necessary to include exercises that burn fat and the most important thing to accompany this type of training is to maintain a healthy diet.